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Fred Rosenmiller set to sell historical collection Saturday

After 65 years of acquiring antiques and collectibles, many from York-based companies, Rosenmiller is selling his collection, including a 1910 Pullman Raceabout car.

By BRANDIE KESSLER Daily Record/Sunday News

Updated:
06/12/2013 01:01:31 PM EDT

York, PA -

Fred Rosenmiller has been collecting for more than 65 years.

From glass bottles to cigar memorabilia, stoneware to automobiles, Rosenmiller has accumulated a lot of stuff.

But he sees himself as more than a collector.

"Some people are collectors and others are packrats," Rosenmiller said, standing amid thousands of items he's amassed in one of several pole barns on his family farm in Spring Garden Township. "I have always been interested in the history of the items I collect."

Every item he's hunted down or happened upon and brought home -- whether it's the 1910 Model O Pullman Raceabout car he found in New York, or the 65-million-year-old dinosaur eggs he spotted in Maryland -- has a story.

A C.B. "Red" Klinedinst bicycle in Rosenmiller's collection, with its head badge intact, is just like the one he rode when he was a young man in the 1950s.

"Red Klinedinst, he had his bicycle shop on South Duke Street," Rosenmiller said of the dealer.

A bigger item, a 1956 Corvette, also reminds him of his youth. "I've always loved cars," he said, "And that Corvette is identical to the one I drove in my Navy days."

Rosenmiller celebrated his 80th birthday in November and said Rosenmiller Farm, which has been in his family since 1835 and houses the bulk of his collection, has become more work than he can manage. Though he has "four wonderful daughters, they're not in a position to take care of the farm," either, he explained. "It made sense from an estate planning perspective to sell it (the farm) to a family that can enjoy it."

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Though he would like to find a home for his collectibles as soon as possible, Rosenmiller's not going to compromise the time and work he took collecting. He insists the items stay in or close to York County, and he plans to rent or lease space on the farm to continue storing his valuables if the farm sells quickly.

He has already given several items to the York County Heritage Trust, including a Hart-Kraft Truck, which trust president and CEO Joan Mummert said was among his major contributions. Rosenmiller said the trust has looked at other items that would fill a void there, but he needs a home for the rest.

The Pullman: 'I love that car'

He plans to sell to private collectors or at a public auction planned for June 15. He said the bigger items, including the 1910 Pullman, may be more difficult to sell, or rather more difficult to part with.

Steve Moskowitz, executive director of the Antique Automobile Club of America in Hershey, of which Rosenmiller is a member, said Pullmans are rare and valuable, and estimated there are fewer than a thousand left.

"Pullman is a relatively, I wouldn't say obscure, but it wasn't a high production vehicle. There's not a lot of them around," he said. "In the state of Pennsylvania, since they were made here, they hold a lot of interest."

Moskowitz said Rosenmiller's older vehicles are quite rare and quite desirable. "Depending on what he wants (for them), he will find no shortage of people wanting to buy them and no shortage of museums willing to take them."

What Rosenmiller said he wants is to find a collector with "a passion for York cars or early cars" who lives in Pennsylvania, or at the farthest, Maryland. Selling to someone farther away is not an option, he said, adding, "I'll just be patient until I find someone who appreciates it."

Looking over his favorite of his older vehicles -- the 1910 Pullman with its monocle windshield, bright yellow paint and brass trim -- Rosenmiller said Pullman was the largest automobile manufacturer in York County, manufacturing vehicles from the ground up between 1903 and 1917.

"I love that car," he said. "It's so reliable and it's a real head-turner."

It's also "a running fool," Rosenmiller added, noting, "You do 45 mph and feel like you're doing 100 mph because it's so low to the ground."

On one hand, he would love to keep it, but on the other, it's difficult to maintain. It requires a hand-crank to start. "That was fun years ago," Rosenmiller said, but "now I think I might rather get in the Chevy and turn the key."

Rosenmiller said he found the 1910 and a 1908 Pullman, and about seven other Pullmans outside of York and brought them back. "My idea was to bring them back to York where they were born," he said. "I brought them home, I want them to stay home."

Selling hard, but fun, too

Among the other vehicles Rosenmiller wants to find good homes for are a 1917 Bell, which was assembled in York; a 1932 Packard; and a 2003 Harley-Davidson Sportster. Rosenmiller said he bought the 100th anniversary motorcycle because Harleys are still built in York, and it was a good investment.

Although parting with the items in a collection he's worked long and hard to assemble is difficult, Rosenmiller said it's also fun.

"Now that I have been doing collecting through auctions and other collectors, now it's in reverse and they're coming to me" to find their collectibles, he said. "And so it goes."

He has also contacted American Pickers, a show on the History channel that follows two collectors, or "pickers," Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz, as they search for antiques and valuables in barns, garages and warehouses across America.

"They never buy a great deal," Rosenmiller said of the pair, "but I just thought it would be kind of fun to have them here. The point would be the experience of bringing them in."

Many people will associate Rosenmiller with his vast collection, likely even after his collection is sold off. But his youngest daughter, Susan Wooton, of Manheim Township, who remembers "polishing the brass on the old Pullmans for the (car) show in Hershey," said she hopes her father is remembered for something even more important.

"It's not just collecting something pretty," she said. "He knows the significance and the meaning. He's provided a real example for people to live by as far as his generosity and preservation and thinking of others, and really just being an incredibly generous person."

A prehistoric find

Fred Rosenmiller was looking for glass bottles at an antique bottle show in Maryland about three years ago when he found what would become the oldest item in his collection.

He saw what looked like two rocks the size of cantaloupes fused together. Talking with the anthropologist who had them in his possession, Rosenmiller learned they were dinosaur eggs, estimated to be between 65 and 100 million years old.

The anthropologist acquired the fossil while working in China, where he was paid, in part, with artifacts.

"I was fascinated if for no other reason than it would be the oldest thing in my collection," Rosenmiller said, of why he bought the fossil.

He joked he was a bit nervous he might have a "Jurassic Park experience," and find the eggs had hatched one warm day. To this day, Rosenmiller has no pet dinosaurs.

A life-long love of collecting

Fred Rosenmiller started collecting as a boy, inspired by his father's interest in collecting. He started by collecting stamps.

That didn't last long, he said, and he moved on to collecting coins. Rosenmiller said collecting both stamps and coins can be challenging, especially for young collectors, because there are so many stamps and coins in the world. However, he encouraged fostering the interest of collecting in children.

"When you retire, a lot of times when you don't have that job to go back to, you become a couch potato," he said. "When you're a collector, that never happens."

Unique coding

Although Fred Rosenmiller wants to keep track of his collection, he doesn't want others, especially potential buyers, to know what his collectibles are worth.

Also, in general, he said he doesn't like the "crassness" of people knowing what he spent on.

In order to satisfy his organizational interest while being discreet, Rosenmiller has created a cataloguing system for his items. Instead of using standard numbers and letters, he has combined Mayan numbers and Mandarin Chinese. He said most people have no idea what they're looking at when they see the labels, which speaks to the effectiveness of his idea.

Rich in history

Fred Rosenmiller wants to do what he can to preserve history through the York County Heritage Trust.

He has given several items, big and small, to the trust to contribute to its collection and ensure the items are around for generations to come.

"Fred was instrumental in starting our Lewis Miller Legacy Society in which donors can leave artifacts or bequests to the Trust," Joan Mummert, York County Heritage Trust president and CEO wrote in an email. "He also helped orchestrate the automobile collection."

Mummert said the Hart-Kraft Truck was among his major contributions to the trust. He also recently donated a historic York County bottle collection.

Also of interest

Fred Rosenmiller shows his 2003 Harley-Davidson Sportster, which he purchased as a collector's item on the 100th anniversary of the company's founding. Rosenmiller, who recently turned 80 years old, has decided to sell most of his collection, which consists of thousands of antiques and highlights York-based companies and their products. ( DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS - CHRIS DUNN)